Regional trademark and patent disputes have been a major irritant for Apple. The company only just settled things with ProView display for its almost-victorious claims over the iPad trademark in China, only to be confronted by Brazilian handset maker Gradiente Eletronica. Unlike other disputes where alternate trademark claims came for products other than smartphones and tablets; Gradiente successfully strip Apple off its iPhone trademark in the Southern American nation, which it uses to market a mainstream Android handset.

The said handset, the Gradiente iPhone, is available in black and white color options with a chrome stripe highlighting its back panel; a 3.7-inch 480 x 320 pixels display, 5-megapixel primary camera, 2 GB of storage expandable to 32 GB, and Android 2.3.4 "Gingerbread."

Apple's immediate recourse, according to the BBC, is of appealing against the court's decision to grant Gradiente the trademark claim. If that fails, Apple will either have to re-brand its iPhone in Brazil (a fairly large, and emerging mobile market), or make Gradiente richer by means of an off-the-court settlement.